The decision by Bord Gáis to enter the domestic electricity supply market has been warmly welcomed this morning.
The company has announced it is to go head to head with the ESB from today and compete to supply electricity to customers.
The company, which supplies gas to more than 630,000 homes, says it aims to become the second biggest energy player in Ireland, and plans to be the first "dual fuel" supplier in the Republic, offering gas and electricity to homes. Bord Gáis said its prices could be up to 14 per cent cheaper than the ESB.
John Mullins, chief executive of Bord Gáis, also said that domestic gas prices could fall by up to one quarter over the course of the year, cutting over €200 off the average annual bill.
Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan said increased competition in the electricity market would help national competitiveness and the spending power of consumers.
"Competition in the electricity market is delivering — delivering new entrants and lower prices. This will help our national competitiveness and the spending power of our consumers.
Fine Gael welcomed the company's entry into the domestic electricity supply market but said the Government's decision to keep energy prices artificially hight by not changing the regulatory model, meant that customers would still be paying over the odds.
"Currently the regulatory model prohibits the ESB from reducing their prices to respond to the Bord Gáis offer. This is madness at a time when we need to get electricity prices down," said the party's energy spokesman Simon Coveney.
"For up to a year now, Fine Gael has been calling on the Minister to change the regulatory model of setting an actual price for ESB household bills and instead introduce a price ceiling to encourage ESB price reductions below that ceiling. If that simple price regulation change were made I believe we could see significant ESB price reductions in response to competition from Bord Gais," he added.
Sinn Féin also called on the regulator to allow the ESB to lower its prices. It's energy spokesman Martin Ferris said the news that gas prices could fall by as much as a quarter over the year would help to address fuel poverty.
The Labour Party has welcomed Bord Gais's entry into the household electricity market although it too called on the Government to take action to further reduce prices.
"It is now weeks since the Taoiseach instructed the Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan to get his act together in relation to reducing energy prices. The Minister has promised a double-digit reduction, yet we are still waiting for a decision from the energy regulator," said the party's energy spokeswoman Liz McManus.
"At a time when businesses and householders are being crippled by some of the highest energy prices in Europe, we a have a Government that seems incapable of getting a decision made that would protect jobs and ease the pressure on people living on low incomes," she added.
Ms McManus said she would be seeking a firm and clear statement from Minister Ryan as to when price reductions will be in place in the Dáil today.
Meanwhile, the Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI) said today's announcement would provide households with more choice at a critical time.
Seperately, it was announced today that the ESB is to buy electricity from householders who have their own wind generators or other renewable electricity systems, setting the price at 9c per unit.
Householders will be able to sell their surplus electricity to the grid and buy it back extra energy when needed.
